While the country takes its first steps toward returning to routine today, most of the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community will defy the government by opening up educational institutions for hundreds of thousands of students in first through eighth grades against the law.On Saturday night, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky – one of the leading rabbis of the Lithuanian haredi community – ordered that his community’s elementary schools open up while adhering to Health Ministry regulations, such as wearing masks, organizing students into small groups, and maintaining social distancing.
The move comes after negotiations between authorities and the haredi sector failed last week.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called upon the haredi community to keep their children at home and not obey the rabbi’s order.“I call on the ultra-Orthodox public and its leaders not to do it,” Netanyahu said. “We followed the health official’s recommendation to open the preschools. They clearly said that there should be no opening beyond that.”But Netanyahu said that while he would send police to enforce the regulation, he does not anticipate mass arrests and does not want to see violence like that which occurred between the police and haredi violators in recent weeks.“We are unable to send a police officer to every street corner or alley,” the prime minister said. “We will exercise our best judgment. Understand that there are limitations here.”
